SQ numbers

Fraction of global energy consumption used in the United States

Fraction of world’s gross national product made up by the United States gross national product

Fraction of farmers who left their homes during the Dust Bowl

Fraction of the world’s oil that lies in the Middle Eastern countries of Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Azerbaijan; amount of energy produced from tar sands that goes into mining those tar sands

Number of times greater the water reserves in glaciers are compared to groundwater reserves

Factor by which oil production in Alberta’s tar sands should increase by 2030

Number of times larger the amount of carbon dioxide produced from tar sands is compared to conventional oil

Number of times larger than Earth the ice protoplanets measured

Number of times smaller the water reserves stored in freshwater streams and lakes are compared to groundwater reserves

Average particle diameter for clay

Particle diameter for sand

Length of Mesosaurus; equivalent to 2 feet

Current level of annual coal consumption in the United States

Average life span of a species

Number of years it should take plaentesimals to accumulate into an Earth-sized mass

Distance moved by a tectonic plate annually; equivalent to 0.4 to 4 inches

Remaining oil reserves

Amount of carbon released into the atmosphere annually in the United States

Estimated amount of material indirectly moved by humans annually due to increased erosion from agriculture and deforestation

Depth beneath which metamorphism occurs

amount of sediment accumulated on the Bahaman banks since the Jurassic time

depth at which Jurassic deposits now lie along the Bahaman banks

Maximum depths of Devil’s corkscrews

Average shrinkage of carbonate rocks in vegetated, temperate climates over 1,000 years

Number of years it takes most solar nebulae to lose their hydrogen and helium reserves

Amount of ash released by Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991

Number of years United States natural gas reserves will last

Amount of material moved annually by tectonic plates, rivers, volcanoes, and glaciers

Maximum water height variations in man-made control reservoirs

Maximum distance landslides travel in one hour

Amount of land suffering from the loss of topsoil by 1934 during the Dust Bowl

Number of years it took for planetesimals to accumulate into larger bodies

Amount of land lost due to subsidence in Louisiana annually; equivalent to 40 square miles

Length of time monitored by NASA’s Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Project

Number of barrels dumped into the Gulf of Mexico each day in 1979

Maximum depth of water found during research drilling

Depth of deepest hole, located in Russia

Amount of earth that covered Canada’s Highway 3 after the Hope Mountain landslides

Amount of rock uplifted during tectonic plate collisions annually

amount of sediment transported to oceans by rivers annually

Width of the largest landslide recorded; equivalent to 9 miles

Amount of land seized by the government under the Taylor Grazing Act

Maximum height of dunes formed during the Dust Bowl; equivalent to 4.6 to 6.1 meters

Equivalent amount of oil found in the Alberta tar sands

Length of the largest landslide recorded; equivalent to 12 miles

United States oil production levels in 2004

Typical depths for the oil window

Amount of sand required to produce one barrel of oil in the tar sands

Average annual evaporation in the San Joaquin Valley

Estimated oil resources beneath Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Height of tower karst in Guilin, China

Numbers of barrels of oil spilled when Exxon Valdez ran ashore in 1989

Remaining uranium reserves

Average annual precipitation in the San Joaquin Valley

Atmospheric carbon levels prior to Industrialization

Amount of rock and sediment moved annually in the United States for road construction

Depth of impermeable clay layer in San Joaquin Valley

Depth of topsoil removed during the Dust Bowl; equivalent to 7 to 10 centimeters

Remaining coal resources worldwide

Tons of rock mined annually in the United States

Worldwide oil production levels in 2004

Tons of igneous rock created by volcanoes annually

Average flow per day in the High Plains aquifer

Minimum distance required to purify sewage-containing water flowing through sand

Estimated amount of earth material moved directly by humans annually

Maximum wave height reached when material slid into the Vaiont Reservoir; equivalent to 100 meters

Amount of land ruined by 1934 during the Dust Bowl

Remaining amount of nonrenewable energy reserves worldwide

Current atmospheric carbon levels

Estimated amount of oil that could be efficiently drilled from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Maximum depth for calcareous ooze; equivalent to 13,000 feet

Amount of sediment transported by glaciers annually

Estimated amount of earth material moved by humans annually

amount of sediment moved within rivers annually

Number of years for oil reserves to run out at current consumption levels

Amount of oil extracted from the Alberta tar sands annually

Number of gallons in one barrel

Amount of arid land in North America

Annual worldwide energy consumption as of 2007

The global population doubling time as of 1974

Half-life of 87Rb

Height of wave released after the coal mine waste dam gave way in Buffalo Hallow, West Virginia; equivalent to 15 feet

Amount of new land plowed between 1925 and 1930 in the United States

Length of time it took for the global population to double from 100 million to 200 million

Half-life of 14C

Level of cultivated land in the United States in the 1930s; equivalent to 215 million hectares

Depth of groundwater if reserves were distributed evenly across all land

Depths where igneous and metamorphic rocks dominate

Amount of carbon released into the atmosphere worldwide in 2001

Maximum height of capillary fringe

Maximum height reached by a fountain in an artesian system

Maximum diameter of horseshoe atolls; equivalent to 40 miles

Average depth of the High Plains aquifer

Remaining coal reserves

Amount of earth material moved by each human annually

United States oil consumption levels in 2004

Maximum depth for most groundwater reserves

Amount of earth removed for housing starts in the United States in 1992

Amount of oil that the Ghawar oil fields will produce in their lifetime

Maximum depth of water found during oil drilling

Average error between the matched coastlines of South America and Africa

equivalent to 56 miles

United States energy consumption levels in 2001

Annual damages to roads by landslides in the United States

Annual damages caused by landslides in the United States

Cost to the United States annually to import oil annually

Damages caused by 1983 landslide in Thistle, Utah

Damages caused by the dam failure in Buffalo Hollow, West Virginia

Damages and liabilities from a landslide at Big Rock Mesa in Malibu, California

United States’ rank in remaining oil reserves

Atomic number of selenium

Typical angle of repose

Average amount of water in igneous rock

Number of categories of rock textures

Amount of the world’s oil in the United States amount of world’s total coal used

Average porosity of gravel or sand; amount of the “Okies” who actually came from Oklahoma

amount the U.S. Geological Survey increased their prediction of remaining oil reserves from 1994 to 2000

Amount of natural gas used to generate electricity

Amount of the world’s oil in Saudi Arabia

percentage coal makes of the United States’ energy consumption

Amount of fossil fuel consumption made up of natural gas in the United States

amount of natural gas used in residential settings

Percent more carbon dioxide released by coal than oil

Amount of the United State’s energy in 2001 that came from renewable biomaterial

Increase in worldwide oil production from 2003 to 2004

Amount of United States irrigation water coming from the High Plains aquifer

amount of the United States’ seafood harvest that comes from swamps along the Mississippi delta

percent less carbon dioxide produced by natural gas compared to oil

Number of types of crystal shapes

Amount of the 20 counties in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas that experienced severe wind erosion during the Dust Bowl

efficiency of carbon energy sources

percent less carbon dioxide produced by natural gas compared to coal

Maximum amount of water in sedimentary rock

annual increase in the gap between oil production and consumption in the United States

amount of world oil demand that could be supplied by the Alberta oil tar sands

Amount of an isotope remaining after one half-life

average porosity of clay

decrease in High Plains aquifer thickness over the last 50 years; percent carbon in peat

Amount of natural gas directed to industries and commercial projects

Amount of energy wasted in a carbon system

Number of major elements

Percent carbon in lignite; percent more carbon dioxide released by coal than natural gas

Amount of the United States that suffered from dust clouds during the Dust Bowl

Amount of the 20 counties in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas that experienced wind erosion during the Dust Bowl

Amount of coal lying in the United States, China, and the former Soviet states

Amount of the United States’ energy in 2001 that came from nonrenewable fossil fuels

Amount of North America’s arid land that suffers from moderate to severe desertification

amount of the United States’ energy that comes from carbon sources

percent carbon in anthracite

Amount of Earth’s water stored as groundwater

Global population in 1804

Number of housing starts in the United States in 1992

Number of people killed when a dam broke loose in Buffalo Hollow, West Virginia

Number of people alive 10,000 years ago; number of coal cars that could be filled with the earth material humans move annually

Number of insects and burrowing animals on Earth

Number of children killed after a mine waste slide in Aberfan, Wales, in 1966

Predicted population in 2050

Number of dust storms in 1932

Number of people killed after a mine waste slide in Aberfan, Wales in 1966

Number of wells that pump from the High Plains aquifer

Number of categories of rock textures

People alive during 1927

Number of people who die from avalanches in the United States annually; number of counties studied by the Soil Conservation Service during the Dust Bowl

Number of people alive during the Bronze Age

Number of people killed in a landslide in Kansu, China in 1920

Number of people who die from landslides in the United States annually

Number of types of rocks; number of geologic eras

Number of young men employed by the Civil Conservation Corps

Number of people killed by a wave from the Vaiont reservoir in 1963

Number of campers killed from a landslide in Madison Canyon in Montana in 1959

Number of states with commercial oil reserves

Number of types of crystal shapes

People alive during 1974

Number of coal miners that die annually in China

Number of dust storms in 1933

Number of planetesimals used in George W. Wetherill’s experiments

Number of large tectonic plates

People alive during 2007

Number of people, on average, who die from landslides annually worldwide; number of people killed after an intense storm in Brazil in January 1967

Number of major elements

Predicted population in 2028

Number of jobs created by the Works Progress Administration

Minimum temperature at which complex hydrocarbons break down into methane

Minimum temperature required for a rock to metamorphose

Temperature at which minerals begin to change in metamorphism

Minimum temperature required to melt most rocks

Temperature below which the crystalline grains of carbonaceous chrondrites solidify

Temperature in the Earth’s core; equivalent to 9000 °F

World population reaches 100 million

The Jurassic Period begins

Dinosaurs appeared on Earth

Oldest fossil records from stromatolites

Most recent estimate for the beginnings of planetary formation

Most distant estimate for the beginnings of planetary formation

Polar wandering paths stop divering between Europe and North America

Time when matching rocks formed in Brazil and western Africa

Polar wandering paths begin to diverge between Europe and North America

Dinosaurs died off

Tyrannosaurus rex lived on Earth